The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Satellite television is increasing in popularity due to the ever-increasing amount of programming as well as the quality of programming. Programming includes standard national (CONUS) broadcasts, local or regional station broadcasts, on-demand content and interactive content.
Satellite television broadcast systems typically use several satellites. Each satellite has several transponders that receive signals from the ground and broadcast the signals to users. Each transponder is capable of providing a certain amount of content therethrough. That is, each transponder may provide a certain bit rate therethrough.
Set top boxes (STB), which are commonly referred to as integrated receiver decoders (IRDs), are used to receive and decode the signals from the satellite through an outdoor unit. Various models of set top boxes are continually being introduced by various manufacturers. Various models include standard definition models, high definition models, mobile models, boxes with digital video recorders and boxes without digital video recorders. Older technology boxes are used by customers as well. Each of the set top boxes includes a software image which is the software that runs inside the set top box. The software image is typically installed on the set top box by the contractor installing the system into a customer's home. Some operating software may also be pre-installed.
At various times, the software image requires updating. Updating software images is desirable to fix glitches or bugs in the software. Software images may also be updated to support new technology. That is, newer services may be provided to customers that require new operating software or modifications to existing software.
Communicating software updates to set top boxes was performed using a manual process. The manual process is a time-consuming process.